I wanted to share some of the highlights of the 40 Days of Community campaign. The main highlight is the rejuvenation of our small group ministry. TRCC has always had a very robust small group ministry. During the year that they were looking for a Senior Pastor the small group ministry started to wain. When I arrived it was pretty anemic and needed a huge shot of adrenaline. The small group leaders were just not sure how to get the fire lit and keep it burning in our small groups. I tried several things and read a ton of books, but nothing seemed to work. Then along came 40 DoC and things took off. We asked people to make a six week commitment and join a small group. If they did not want to continue beyond the six weeks then that was perfectly fine. What we saw was literally the quadrupling of our small group ministry overnight. Now as awesome as that is it is nothing compared to what the impact is now. Not only did we quadruple the small group ministry for the short-term, but all of the groups have agreed to continue to meet!
We also have seen a burn for greater discipleship within the people. They appear to have a fire for deepening their relationship with Christ.
Finally, we have experienced a greater level of volunteerism. People are wanting to share their gifts and talents with the church.
So overall, we increased the community within the church and increased the community outside the church. The bottom line is that we all learned to love a little more.
.JPG)